Amnesty International urges Lithuania to investigate CIA jail to bitter end

The Prosecutor's Office of Lithuania said that it would "carefully study" Amnesty International’s evidence

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VILNIUS, September 29 (Itar-Tass) —— The human rights organization Amnesty International has urged Lithuania in the light of new facts to complete the investigation of the suspicion the CIA had kept a secret jail for terrorists in the country’s territory.

Lithuania should not excuse itself by "state secret" arguments, thus preventing a proper investigation into the disappearance of people and inhuman treatment of them, an Amnesty International expert in the fight against terrorism in Europe, Julia Hall, said on Thursday. She said that human rights campaigners had laid hands on new information about 2004-2005 flights from the capital of Morocco to Vilnius by aircraft that participated in the secret CIA program for the transportation of prisoners. A Palestinian, mistakenly considered one of the leaders of Al-Qaeda, may have been brought to Lithuania then.

The Prosecutor's Office of Lithuania said that it would "carefully study" Amnesty International’s evidence.

The fact that in Lithuania several years ago there operated secret CIA jails for al-Qaeda militants, taken prisoner after the attacks of September 11, 2001, was reported by the US television network ABC in 2009. Vilnius conducted a parliamentary inquiry to arrive at the conclusion that conditions for an illegal CIS jail in Lithuania, not agreed with the authorities, had been established, although it remains hypothetical such a secret facility not simply existed, but was fully operational.